Philly Lacrosse Franchise Hoping to Draw 10,000

PHILADELPHIA – Ed Tepper figures the people who tumble into the Spectrum to watch ice hockey will tumble into the same building to watch indoor lacrosse — at least 10,000 fans a game.

No kidding, Tepper spoke with a poker-face when he projected the instant, blue- chip success for the new Phil­adelphia franchise of the Na­tional Lacrosse League. “The fans who love contact sports, ice hockey and foot­ball, are going to love indoor lacrosse with its speed and vi­olence,” said Tepper, pres­ident of the local franchise, which will play 40 games from May through September.

6 Franchises

Tepper, a builder and devel­oper, figures the lacrosse team — which is still (1) un­named and lacking a (2) gen­eral manager and (3) a head coach — will generate enough excitement to draw “at least 10,000” fans each home game here in the Spectrum.

“Really, I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t ex­pect that many.” said Tepper, “because, in my mind, Phila­delphia is the No. 1 sports town in the nation. The Flyers have to be the No. 1 fran­chise, and everyone knows how the Eagles draw at home. Lacrosse has similiar fan appeal, its quickness and body contact will be selling points to the fans. .MI of us, the investors, are excited about the team.”

Philadelphia will be one of six teams in the newly-formed NLL, headed by G.T. Spence Lyons, former commissioner of the Eastern Lacrosse Asso­ciation. Other franchises will lo­cate in Montreal, Toronto (home of the league head­quarters), Syracuse, Mary­land, and Rochester.

New Floor

David A. Natale, a Dela­ware County attorney, will be the chairman of the board of the Philadelphia franchise. Tepper, as president, will be directly involved in the opera­tion of the team, hiring the GM and coach. “We’re very clcse to naming a general manager,” Tep­per said, “and we have at least one person in mind for a head coach. We’ll sign both soon to get our program un­derway quickly.”

A new insulated wooden floor will be purchased by the Spectrum and used as the playing surface for all home games. The goals are a pair of nets. 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 feet wide.

Indoor lacrosse is played in three 20-minute periods, six men per team, with no time­outs.

18 Players

Tepper said each NLL team will have 18 players in uni­form. A player draft is sche­duled in Montreal on March 25 to stock each team. Also, Tepper said a free agent tryout camp would be held, possibly in the Delaware Val­ley, to “uncover any possible players we may have missed in the draft.”

“We figure there are enough American and Canadi­an players to adequately fill all of the rosters in the league,” said Tepper. “Our job is to find and sign them to contracts.”

Bruce Norris, owner of the National Hockey League’s De­troit Red Wings, will head the Toronto franchise. Bill Put­man, former president of the Philadelphia Flyers, has an interest in the Maryland orga­nization.